Someone on our friendly neighbor island of Emao has saw fit to burn down our TVL cellular tower. Running on a small solar array, batteries, and a generator backup, it provided TVL cellular phone service and WiMax to all of Northeast Efate (beamed back via microwave somewhere in Northwest Efate). I have never been that enthusiastic about the craftsmanship that went into this tower, as it was always shutting off if we had a single cloud in the sky, but I never thought it to be flammable...

Coconut wireless (what we lovingly call the grapevine in Vanuatu) reports that the culprit was identified, easily, as he stole all the solar panels and batteries before he covered everything in oil and set the site ablaze. Solar panels don't really work locked in a closet, so I haven't a clue how he was going to hide them... The fugitive has been on the run for two weeks now and is hiding out on a neighboring island, but most of the hardware that wasn't burned was recovered. TVL has stated they will take 12 months or more to get the cell tower working again, so this means that: 1) My new TVL phone is useless... and I just got one that worked. 2) The internet service for all of Northeast Efate is now off, and will be until the tower is restored. This means both schools that I work at no longer have access, and as a consequence, neither do I.

Note the Emergency Mode...

I am now using a super flaky "Internet Stick" from rival company Digicel. It is running on EDGE and barely gets a signal anywhere on campus so if I seem grumpy, it is because I just spent 20-30 minutes dancing around divining the bits from the ether just to get this posted.

Anyway, I just thought you should know. Thanks for reading

The topic for today is what I miss from back home. I'm often asked by my Ni-Vanuatu counterparts "What do you miss from the USA". After a truthful response, they look at me incredulously, usually, so I have learned to just say "My Family". In truth, there are three things that I miss more than anything else, (besides friends and family, love you mom!), I thought I would detail them below:

Power

This response confuses my neighbors and friends here more than anything (HCNs specifically). I can read it on their faces, even though they don't articulate verbally, "But we have power you moron, every morning and night, sometimes". I long for a light switch that does its duty without protest. A power socket that provides juice to my peripherals without contest. An electric tea kettle that produces warm water for my bucket baths without hesitation. More than that, something that is just plain ol' reliable. The generator here does not have a mechanical switch run on a timer, rather its switch is of the human persuasion. A human, unlike a machine, is prone to bouts of heavy kava intoxication, forgetfulness, non-communicated schedule changes, and improper time keeping thanks to our friends at Digicel (sometimes 15 minutes fast/slow!!!). I thought I was going to get away from worry about things like power, internet, and time here, but in a way I am more controlled by time and power in Vanuatu than I ever was in the States.

A Paycheck

I have to be honest, volunteering for two years tends to wreck a bank account. In addition, I am especially disadvantaged because our friends at the Peace Corps compute our monthly stipends by simply taking an average of the need (Note: It is actually the median, I found this out after a FOIA or f-oi-ya request... not that it changes my argument). This is great for those with no expenses, free food, and no access to stores or internet (vast majority). For those who pull the average up, outliers if you will, it becomes a lesson in frustration. I worry about money now more than I ever did in the States. This has been the hardest and cruelest aspect of being a Peace Corps Volunteer; even more so than language, culture, bugs, or the heat.

Instant Gratification

I was originally going to put restaurant-food here, but that isn't right. The longing is for something deeper than just Wendy's or an American Dream Pizza (Corvallis chain, no no no not Portland's). For a culture with virtually zero planning, I have to plan quite a bit if I want to get anything I want. I cannot wake up hungry at 2:00am and shamble down to the nearest fast food joint for a burger. I cannot continue playing a computer game late into the night just because I want to. I can't go out and see the newest blockbuster no matter how well it was rated on Rotten Tomatoes. My favorite pastime, I can no longer watch Day9 several times a week, even though I can see his website, happenings, and special events. If I want to do anything mentioned before, planning is required, sometimes extensive planning, and months in advance. I miss being able to get what I want when I want it. Some would call this a learning experience in patience.

I don't pretend that this doesn't sound like whining. I am breaking my number 1 new year's resolution already, of "complain less". I can rationalize, but this is still the Peace Corps, and I still knew what I was getting into. I think the major component that makes my site unique is the opportunities given to me. There are a lot. So much so that I get a taste of a Western life, and the rug is pulled before I get more, almost daily. Often I envy my counterparts out in the bush. Other days, I am glad to get what little of civilization that I do.

Runners up

• Dating (yes really)
• Western Housing (i.e. NO BUGS)
• Fast Internet
• Newegg.com
• Cooking in a Western Kitchen
• Cold Things
• Dry Things
• Driving
• My E-PL1
• 24/7 Water

One of these days I am going to do another one on things that I don't miss. Stay tuned and thanks for reading (Mom and Friend)

So this house has a deadbolt, and a doorknob lock (unusual for Vanuatu, normal for America). I approach the door, key in hand from the previous sitter, and I try it first in the doorknob. It goes in easily, turns, and looks to unlock the door. I then use it again in the deadbolt and after a little jiggle, it also opens. I move my 80 pounds of cargo into the house and lock the door and leave. Big mistake. Upon my return I found that the key I was given did not actually unlock the doorknob, it just turned an already unlocked doorknob. So I was locked out, all my stuff was in there, and the owners were in America enjoying pizza, and blocks of cheese, etc... So I had to walk the three miles to the hotel and ended up staying there the night.

The hotel is behind that shopping center, apparently all owned by the same individual. The next day I set out to find a locksmith. I call every place in town and found there is only one roving locksmith in Vila capable of opening this door. Port Vila Hardware connects my call through to him and I had a typical conversation with an HCN:

"Hello, yes, yu wan laksmeth (locksmith)?" Making sure I had the right person
"Wanem?"
"Help, yes, mi save nid wan laksmeth... Wan man blo laks?" I need a locksmith, you know, a man that does locks
"Wanem? Man blo blaks?" Man that does blocks?

At this point I get a little annoyed. What is your job person? Do you play with blocks all day? Or do you drive a truck around with the word "Lock Smith" on the side!!? I finally get him to understand I am looking for a man that understands the black arts of locks and then he hangs up on me. I guess I was a little too annoyed with him. Another call to Port Vila Hardware and I found out he was too busy to talk and will not be available for another couple days (in local speak: they have no idea when he will be available next). Great. So I call on our two handymen at the PeaceCorps office, one of who installed the doorknob, and solicited their help.

Well, as you can see they did end up getting me into the house, but it wasn't in the exact way I had hoped. Thankfully the deadbolt was safe and used some proper screws to secure the plate. The doorknob catch on the other hand used some very stubby screws which allowed the wood to splinter as it did and rip apart. I guess I should be thankful those were the screws that were used, but I would have rather just not thought the key worked for both locks. Enter the super glue:

I decided that I could reattach the pieces, attempting to put lipstick on this pig of a mess, and I went out in search of wood glue. The only stuff I found was in a gallon bucket for over 30 dollars, no sale. The super glue was only $1 for three tubes and looked much better deal for the money. I should have just gotten the wood glue. As I opened one of the tubes it exploded out of the front like a badly shaken beer, and this forced me to just about botch the job. When I finished glueing the pieces I set about nailing them in place. Some rubbish bullet head nails later, lots of super glue, some elmers glue, and two very flas (expensive and awesome) brass screws later the door functions exactly as it did before, and I think, is safer as the door knob catch will not pop out so easily as it did when the handymen strong armed the door. However it does not look so nice:

Defeated I sit down to continue reading Game of Thrones on my laptop, as someone has stolen book three from the office for many moons now. I get down to the bottom of the page on the right and look what I find:

Yes, that is some of the super glue that exploded from the tube when I opened it. It must have flown several feet to catch my laptop like this. You know what, I am not even going to try and remove it. Thanks for reading